APA-Rabat (Morocco) On Tuesday in Rabat, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and OCP Group signed three loan agreements totalling $188 million as part of the financing of OCP Group’s Green Investment Programme.
The first loan of $150 million from the AfDB and the second loan of $18 million from the Canada-AfDB Climate Fund will be used to finance the construction of three modular seawater desalination plants.
These plants, owned by OCP Group, a world leader in soil fertility and plant nutrition solutions, will have a total annual capacity of 110 million m3.
In addition to making OCP Group’s industrial and mining sites self-sufficient in unconventional water, the project will supply up to 75 million m3 of drinking water to the cities of Safi, El Jadida and the areas surrounding OCP Group’s Safi and Jorf plants. More than 1.5 million people will benefit from this drinking water.
The third loan, worth $20 million from the Clean Technology Fund, will be used to finance energy storage systems generated by renewable sources. These systems will supply energy to desalination plants and other production units of the OCP Group.
This financing is an example of the support that the African Development Bank, the Canada-African Development Bank Climate Fund (CACF) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) intend to provide in the fight against climate change, both in terms of adaptation and mitigation.
It also aims to support the most vulnerable sections of the population by, among other things, supplying drinking water and creating jobs, including for young people and women, as well as in rural areas. The projects are essential components of OCP Group’s Green Investment Programme and form part of the Emergency Plan for the supply of drinking water initiated by the Moroccan government.
The financing agreements were signed by Ousmane Fall, Director of the Industrialization and Trade Development Department of the African Development Bank, and Karim Lotfi Senhadji, Chief Financial Officer of OCP Group. Representatives of the Government of Canada also attended the signing of the contract, acknowledging the CACF’s contribution and reinforcing our shared commitments to combat climate change and empower women.
The closing of this financing operation also represents the first non-sovereign financing signed within the framework of the CACF.
“We are proud to be associated with this ambitious project, which provides a strategic response to the growing water stress in Morocco. The project will also make it possible to optimise water resource management in OCP’s industrial activities by using desalinated seawater,” Achraf Tarsim, the head of the AfDB’s country office in
Morocco emphasised.
“We greatly appreciate these loans, which represent significant contributions to our investment programme of 13 billion dollars from 2023 to 2027. Our sustainability goals are to achieve 100% non-conventional water by 2024, 100% renewable energy by 2027, self-sufficiency in green ammonia by 2032 and full carbon neutrality by 2040,” said Karim Lotfi Senhadji, Chief Financial Officer of OCP Group.
Since 1978, more than 180 operations in various sectors have been deployed by the African Development Bank in Morocco, for a total of €12 billion.
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